By
now we hope you have heard that Glasgow EPB’s proposed Smart Energy Technology
Solution (SETS) was chosen for funding. That immediately means that money will come to our community, but it also means that our community will
reap long term benefits. Our proposed demonstration of what the next generation
of electric utility should look like was judged to be the most likely to
provide really new ideas for all local power companies. We are excited as a
team, and we are ecstatic that the community is working together to bring these
research dollars into the local economy. In
the history of our community, this direct injection of capital exceeds nearly
every other grant that has ever landed here. But perhaps now it is time to fill
the community in on more of just what this money is going to buy us.

This research was announced several years ago. From the very
beginning, the EPB team felt our community was perfectly situated to
demonstrate smart energy technology. The EPB mission statement dictates that we
provide our services “at costs that make them practical and improve the
standard of living for all of the people of Glasgow.” We take that mission
statement to heart in everything we do. Glasgow’s municipally owned broadband
network, and all of the other advanced technology deployed by EPB, flow from
our determination to accomplish that mission. Now the SETS will add to our
process of innovation in support of our mission.

The
basis for our move to build a broadband network in 1988 flowed from our
“infotricity” theory. Simply put, infotricity is the combination of broadband
networks (information) and electricity to produce a system that manages
energy - minute by minute. The goal is to contain consumption to the generation
capacity that can be operated most efficiently. This idea is a complete change
from the way we have operated electric power systems for the last century.
Since the beginning, we have allowed the random demand for electricity to
dictate the construction of a constantly growing set of generation plants. As
those plants grew, so did the cost of electric power to pay for the additional
plants. Even worse, we have really never paid for all of the costs (which
include healthcare, depletion of fresh water, and environmental impact of
acquiring the fuel necessary to run the plants) associated with our increasing
demand for electricity during only a few hours of some days.

We
proposed a project that connects infotricity theory, new infotricity retail
rates, and several elements of research already performed here in Glasgow, to
even newer technology ideas that are evolving presently. Glasgow EPB customers
will get the opportunity to apply for extreme energy make-overs to their homes,
ecobee Wifi enabled thermostats, GE Geospring heat pump water heaters, as well as
very new home battery systems that will store off-peak energy and supply that
energy to home energy needs during on-peak hours. We think we can install these
technologies, control them with new software that builds upon everything we
have already learned about predicting Glasgow’s monthly peak demand using the
best available weather prediction and load prediction tools, to prove that
Glasgow’s total electric demand can be reshaped to better fit within the
capacity of generation plants - with a much lower impact on our economy and our
environment. If we are right, Glasgow residents will benefit greatly and the
utility industry as a whole will have a model for each of them to follow for
their respective communities.

All
of this work is on a very tight schedule. After we get contracts with our
vendors executed, we will evaluate customers who indicate an interest in this
project. They will be asked to provide extensive data so that we can evaluate
what technologies, or ultra-efficient improvements, might work to reshape their
daily demand. Those customers determined to be a good match for the project
will be offered contracts that will cover the details of participation in SETS,
and those that choose to sign, will be receiving some or all of the
technologies we want to study.

Here
is how we think all of the elements of our SETS project will work together.
Every day Glasgow EPB will use weather forecasts and load projections to
attempt to predict the likely days and times for Glasgow’s monthly peak hour
demand. Using those predictions, we will help customers who agree to be a part
of the research reduce their demand during the predicted peak times by
instructing the water heater to heat water the night before, the thermostat to
pre-warm (or pre-cool) the house before the predicted peak, and the battery
system to charge with off-peak energy and discharge energy to the home during
peak hours. All of these functions should work together, using Glasgow’s
broadband network and EPB’s internet-connected electric meters, to dramatically
reduce the Coincident Peak Demand charge that is an element of the new
Infotricity Retail Rates.

Beyond
just helping Glasgow customers reduce their bills under the new rates,
reshaping a community’s total energy demand will help our energy supplier run fewer generation
plants to supply our needs. When other communities replicate our work, the
reduction in generation needs should come down dramatically. As fewer
generation plants are needed to supply our energy needs, the door will swing
open for the installation of more generation that uses renewable energy
sources, like solar and wind. Since Glasgow’s new Infotricity Rates will free
Glasgow EPB from the need to sell more energy to produce the revenue necessary
to support the maintenance of our infrastructure, Glasgow EPB will become a
resource for helping all of its customers explore these new technologies and
how they might be used for Glasgow homes and businesses.

Glasgow
EPB’s mission statement provided the basis for our ongoing interest in our
infotricity theories. This SETS project will provide us the funding necessary
to prove those theories and, in doing so, provide that improved standard of
living that our team is committed to accomplish. The SETS will not be the end
of our efforts in that regard, it is only our latest initiative. More of these
projects will surely follow, and we will continue to search for all
opportunities to make our community a better place to live.